The Order of the Veil

Stub-class article · First seen: referenced via world brief; closest in-fiction sighting is masked Velkris tax-agents in Mirestrand (s4 L820) · Last seen: s04

The Order of the Veil is, per the world brief, the masked enforcement arm of Velkris: it patrols the streets and canals, sees that taxes are paid and magic is registered, and collects debts without question. The Order has never been named in play and the party has not been to Velkris. The nearest the campaign has come is the “odd masked tax agent from Velkris” who works the shops of Mirestrand in session 4 [1], which matches the Order’s collection duty in the brief. Any visit to Velkris, where the party has an open lead for the Duskwatch shipping ledger, will run through the Veil’s streets.

Overview

The Order of the Veil is the named enforcement order of Velkris, the Veiled Gate: masked enforcers who patrol its streets and canals and see that taxes are paid, magic is registered and debts are collected without question (world brief). The page is built almost entirely from that brief.

The Order has not been named in any session through session 23, and the party has not visited Velkris. The one sighting that fits it is the masked tax agent of Mirestrand in session 4 [1][2]. The DM called him an agent “from Velkris” and did not call him the Order, so tying the two together is the wiki’s reading.

Known traits

From the world brief:

  • Masked enforcers who patrol streets and canals. Their remit is to ensure taxes are paid, magic is registered, and debts are collected without question.
  • Taxes in Velkris are the River Passage Levy (cargo weight and destination), the Current Tithe (a fee for passing under Velkris’s watch) and the Breathing Tax (paid daily on goods stored in the marble warehouses, “Even the air costs gold here.”). The brief lists the Veil as the enforcement that sees taxes paid.
  • Private force. House Brask handles private force where the Veil is too slow, too public or too polite.
  • The brief’s drowned vaults beneath Velkris, rumoured to hold debtors who could not pay, are not tied to the Order.

Relationships

  • Council of Factors: the five merchant houses that decide taxes, trade rights and punishments in the Silent Hall. The brief lists the Veil as the city’s enforcement and does not say who commands it; the wiki reads it as answerable to the Council.
  • High Registry: the office whose papers decide who owns and owes what. The brief gives the Veil the duty to see that magic is registered; that the registrations are filed at the Registry is the wiki’s assumption.
  • Velkris and the party’s leads: The Broker sent the party to Silent Intake, “near the entrance” to Velkris, to sell the Duskwatch ledger [3], and called Velkris “the city of money” for selling Aurelian intelligence [4]. The DM offered it as a destination at the end of session 16 [5], and in session 19 Hugo said they would probably go there to redeem the shipping order [6]. None of these names the Veil.

History in the campaign

The Order itself has not been named in play; session 4 holds the nearest sighting.

Session 4: The Still Current, the Black Mask, and Hugo’s Pact

Main article: Session 4

Arriving in the fog-choked town of Mirestrand, the party was told that the fog was exceptional for hiding ambushes and contraband, and that they also noticed “the odd masked tax agent from Velkris” who came into shops, collected coin and vanished [1]. Leaving town on the road to Umbrafall, they saw the same sort of masked figure darting in and out of shops with a pouch while people minded their own business and avoided eye contact [2]. The Order is not named, but the function matches the brief’s description of the Veil’s collection duty.

Status

As of session 23. Unmet. No later session mentions masked Velkris agents, and the party has not visited Velkris. The page should be promoted from a stub when the party reaches Velkris or meets a Veil agent on screen.

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 4, line 820: Masked tax agents from Velkris collect coin from Mirestrand shops (closest in-fiction sighting of the Order's collection arm).
  2. ^ Session 4, line 1428: On the road out of Mirestrand: 'odd masked person running around coming into shops and then exiting rather quickly with what looks to be a pouch'.
  3. ^ Session 7, line 745: Inline citation.
  4. ^ Session 10, line 1250-1256: Inline citation.
  5. ^ Session 16, line 1626: Inline citation.
  6. ^ Session 19, line 271: Inline citation.
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